QUICK PREVIEWLooking for a regular season Bedlam sweep, Oklahoma (18-7, 7-5) travels to Stillwater to take on Oklahoma State (16-8, 4-7) on Saturday at 1 p.m. CT inside Gallagher-Iba Arena. The Sooners, who fell out of the AP Top 25 this week but are No. 25 in the USA Today Coaches Poll, beat the Cowboys 88-76 on Jan. 27 in Norman. They are coming off a 68-60 home loss to Texas Tech on Wednesday. OSU has lost its last five games and six of its last seven after a 15-2 start. The Cowboys are coming off an 87-68 defeat at Texas on Tuesday.

ON THE AIRSaturday’s contest will air on the Sooner Radio Network (KRXO 107.7 FM "The Franchise" in Oklahoma City; KTBZ 1430 AM in Tulsa) with Toby Rowland and Mike Houck calling the action. The game will be televised by ESPN2 with Jon Sciambi, Fran Fraschilla and Holly Rowe announcing.

FIVE THINGS TO KNOW• Oklahoma has won 12 of the last 18 overall meetings with Oklahoma State and holds a 130-95 all-time series advantage. The Sooners, who are 42-62 all-time in Stillwater, are going for their fourth regular season sweep of the Cowboys in the last nine years. OU has lost four straight in Stillwater (fell 84-79 in overtime last season).

• In the Sooners’ 88-76 win over Oklahoma State on Jan. 27 in Norman (box score on page 25), Oklahoma natives Jordan Woodard (team-high 18), Ryan Spangler (15) and Tyler Neal (15) combined for 48 points (Spangler also finished with a career-high 17 rebounds in 25 minutes). It was the first Bedlam game for Woodard and Spangler. The victory was OU’s 10th straight against OSU at Lloyd Noble Center.

• Oklahoma’s 7 wins away from home are tied with Iowa State for the most by a Big 12 team (OU is 3-3 in true road games and 4-1 at neutral sites). The Sooners are 3-3 in Big 12 road games after going 3-6 last season and a combined 2-16 the previous two years. Sophomore guard Buddy Hield is averaging 19.3 points, 5.7 rebounds and 2.2 assists in Big 12 road play while shooting .506 from the field and .458 from long range (22-for-48).

• On the year, Oklahoma is the only Big 12 team with six players who have each made at least 20 3-pointers. Iowa State has five players who have made at least 20 treys and West Virginia has four. Every other team has three or fewer players who have reached 20 makes. Hield leads OU with 62 3-pointers and is followed by Frank Booker (28), Cameron Clark (27), Isaiah Cousins and Neal (24 each) and Woodard (20).

• Hield ranks fourth in the Big 12 in league play with his 17.1 scoring average and second with his 3.3 treys per outing (shooting .406 from behind the arc in those games). Prior to his season-low three points against Texas Tech on Wednesday when he was 1-for-10 from 3-point distance, Hield had averaged 21.3 points on 13-for-24 (.541) 3-point shooting over the previous three games. He has scored in double figures in 23 of 25 games this season after doing it just seven times all of last year.

PREVIEWING OKLAHOMA STATE• Oklahoma State enters Saturday’s game 16-8 overall and 4-7 in Big 12 play (eighth place). The Cowboys are 10-2 at home, with their two defeats coming in their last two games there (76-70 vs. Baylor and 98-97 vs. Iowa State in triple overtime). They have lost five in a row and six of their last seven after starting 15-2 and being ranked as high as No. 5 in the AP poll. In Big 12 play, OSU ranks fifth in the league in scoring offense (76.7 ppg), eighth in scoring defense (76.3 ppg), fifth in field goal percentage (.435), seventh in 3-point field goal percentage (.337), fourth in free throw percentage (.724) and seventh in rebounding margin (-3.1/game).

• On the season, 2013 Big 12 Player of the Year Marcus Smart ranks third in the league in scoring (17.5 ppg), seventh in assists (4.3 apg) and first in steals (2.3 spg). However, Saturday’s game will mark the second of three games Smart will miss due to a Big 12 suspension. Fellow preseason All-Big 12 pick Markel Brown, a senior, ranks fifth in the league with his 16.7 points a contest to go along with 5.4 rebounds and 2.8 assists. Junior forward Le’Bryan Nash averages 14.8 points and a team-high 5.9 rebounds while shooting .540 from the field. Sophomore Phil Forte averages 12.2 points and ranks second in the Big 12 by shooting .462 from long range. He was 6-for-6 from behind the arc off the bench in the first meeting (scored 20 points).

• The Cowboys are under the direction of sixth-year head coach Travis Ford (120-71 record).

SOONER TIP-INS• The Sooners are unranked in this week’s AP Top 25 Poll (are No. 26) after spending the last four weeks in the top 25. They are No. 25 in this week’s USA Today Coaches Poll (fourth straight week ranked in that version). OU made its season debut in the AP top 25 Jan. 13, its first appearance in either major poll since Nov. 23, 2009, and climbed to as high as No. 21 last week.

• Oklahoma is the only team in the country to start the same lineup every game this season AND have all five of those players average double figures in scoring. The quintet has accounted for 78 percent of the team’s points on the year. No other Big 12 team has started the same lineup every game this season.

• In Big 12 play, Oklahoma paces all squads with its .767 free throw percentage. The Big 12 single-season record for conference play is .798 by OU in 2002. The Sooners have shot better from the free throw line than their opponent in 10 of 12 Big 12 games.

• After averaging 70.6 points per game last season, this year’s Sooners are averaging 82.9 points to rank 12th nationally. The last time OU averaged more than 80.0 points per game for an entire season was in 1994-95 (81.7 ppg in Kelvin Sampson’s first year as head coach; see chart above right).

• The Sooners have scored at least 40 points in 32 of 50 halves this season. Last year, they scored 40 in a half 17 times all season.

• OU ranks second in the Big 12 with its 8.5 3-pointers per game in league action (made at least 13 treys three times in Big 12 play).

• Despite standing just 6-8, sophomore forward Ryan Spangler has won the opening tip in 16 of 25 games this year (also won tip in both of team’s overtime sessions).

• Spangler has recorded 13 double-digit rebounding games, compared to seven by last year’s entire roster.

• OU reached the 80-point mark seven times last season. This year’s Sooners have already hit 80 points in 16 of 25 games.

• As a junior last year, Cameron Clark attempted one 3-point field goal (he made it). This season, he is 27-for-59 (.458) from deep.

• Clark joined OU’s 1,000-point club Dec. 30 against Louisiana Tech and ranks 28th on the all-time scoring list with 1,163 points.

• Freshman Jordan Woodard ranks third in the Big 12 in free throw makes (128) and attempts (167). Named the Wayman Tisdale National Freshman of the Week on Dec. 17, Woodard has attempted 10 or more free throws seven times. Interestingly, 73 percent of his free throw attempts have come after halftime. Woodard is averaging 11.3 points and 4.7 assists (leads all Big 12 freshmen and sophomores) while ranking sixth in the league in assist-to-turnover ratio (2.0) and ninth in free throw percentage (.766). Prior to being held to two points and one assist Wednesday against Texas Tech, he averaged 15.0 points and 6.2 assists over the previous five games.

• After averaging 2.7 points last season and never scoring more than 10 points in a game prior to Nov. 22 of this year, sophomore guard Isaiah Cousins has scored in double figures in 13 of the last 22 contests. Cousins shot .279 from the field and .250 (10 makes) from 3-point distance a year ago but is shooting .444 and .369 (24 makes) this season.

• Senior forward Tyler Neal registered no double-digit scoring games last season but has seven this year, including two in the last five games (then season-high 15 Jan. 27 against Oklahoma State and netted 16 Feb. 5 at West Virginia). He is shooting .461 from the field and .429 from 3-point range after shooting .214 and .261 last season. In home games, he is 16-for-30 (.533) from 3-point range.

UP NEXTOU is off until next Saturday (Feb. 22) when its hosts Kansas State at 3 p.m. CT. The game will be televised by the Big 12 Network.

SOONER SPORTS PROPERTIES

Sooner Sports Properties, LLC, is the multimedia rights holder for athletics at the University of Oklahoma.
Sooner Sports Properties is a joint venture of Learfield Communications, Tyler Media, LLC and Griffin Television.

PREMIER PARTNERS

POWERED BY FOX SPORTS

Sooner Sports Powered by FOX Sports is a multi-platform network that provides distribution of 1,000+ hours of Sooner sports programming annually on a variety of FOX Sports outlets, including FOX Sports Oklahoma, FOX Sports Southwest, and FOX College Sports.

OU inspires champions today and prepares leaders for tomorrow by enabling its student-athletes to achieve their highest academic, athletic and personal aspirations. The OU Athletics Department sponsors 21 varsity sports with more than 600 student-athletes and is completely self-supporting.